Journey from the Fall
by sepoetry
Summary: Trini Kwan's life has never been easy. The story of a: survivor, refugee, adopted child, and hero.
**A/N: A lot of personal real life factors went into influencing this story. Growing up in 90's, there wasn't much in the way of Asian-American representation, least of all for Vietnamese-Americans. Being able to tune in every day and see Thuy Trang be a super hero on mainstream T.V. was not only a big deal but life altering. Being a product of a War is not an easy. Like her, my parents escaped a war torn country to be able to have a better life in the United States. I can only hope to continue to honor the sacrifices and struggles they've endured.**

 **Rest in Paradise Thuy Trang.**

The same nightmare woke her.

She instinctively reached towards her nightstand where the device was placed alongside a silver bracelet adorned with a circular wire mesh frame and yellow stripes. The device felt cool against her touch. She slowly ran her fingers across the gold coin connected to the device and could trace out the pattern of the animal emblazoned upon the coin. She rested the device back on her nightstand.

 _It's not like I would have had this with me back then_ She thought to herself.

And even then, the powers that it granted her would have done her no good. She slowly laid back down and closed her eyes again. The familiar images formed in her mind as she slowly drifted back to sleep.

The boat could not have been much more than 30 feet long and 5 feet wide. Yet there were at least 80 bodies cramped together. She remembered that is what she had referred to them as. Bodies. Their soulless eyes gave way to the fact that they had long since forgotten what it felt like to be people. With each passing day, hope would leave the eyes of yet another person who became resigned to their fate.

She opened her eyes again.

 _Another sleepless night._

She glanced back over to her nightstand and looked at the three wooden frames containing pictures from seemingly different worlds. The first picture showed a young woman holding a small child in her arms. The woman was looking past whoever had taken the picture, as if looking for something beyond. Her expression lost. The small child however was smiling in the picture, content in her mother's arms. An old stone building could be seen in the background, flanked by palm trees.

The second picture contained three people. The older man and woman were dressed in formal business attire, each one with a hand on the shoulder of the little girl. The man and woman were smiling in the picture, as if that day was the happiest moment of their lives. The little girl was dressed in an oversized olive drab shirt that contained the letters "USMC", her expression blank.

The third and final picture contained five individuals. Each dressed in bright vibrant colors. In the center was a stoic looking, muscular teenager dressed in a red martial arts gi with a black belt wrapped loosely around his waist. To his right was a dark skinned male with a carefree grin on his face. He was dressed in an oversized black t-shirt and blue jeans and his arm draped across the shoulder of a blond haired male wearing blue. To the left of the picture were two teenaged girls. One with brown hair and a petite frame wearing a pink dress and the other with black hair, pale skin and wearing a yellow dress.

Trini was not her real name. It was a nickname given to her by the Marines at Camp Pendleton who could not pronounce her real name, Thuy Nhi. For whatever reason, it stuck though and her adoptive parents, the Kwans, continued to refer to her as Trini. She concluded that they wanted her to have a fresh start. At first, it was easy to begin forgetting. She had no possessions with her other than a faded photograph that she kept tucked away in her pocket. But the nightmares started soon enough.

Even though it had been seven years, she continued to have the same dreams of her time on that boat. She could recall in astounding detail the faces of every other person. She could still smell the ocean water and could still remember the dizzying feeling of rocking back and forth. She could still remember the feeling of dread and defeat the first time they saw a pirate boat. She remembers the feeling well because it wouldn't be the last.

Trini didn't look up as she shuffled through the school hall way. Although it had only been a few months since her family had moved from Houston, the hallways of Angel Grove High School were familiar to her now. She hadn't paid much attention in any of her classes, a detail which did not escape the notice of all of her friends.

"Hey Trini!"

She pretended not to hear as she turned towards her locker and focused in on her dial lock.

"Trini"

Billy finally approached her locker and gave her a worrying look.

"Is everything okay? Your sullen behavior was most uncharacteristic during class today."

 _Or maybe my regular behavior is what is really uncharacteristic_

"I'm fine Billy, I'm just tired is all. I didn't get much sleep last night."

Before Billy could reply, a large figure bumped into him from behind causing him to fall to the floor. A lankier boy soon appeared behind the large individual.

"Well look at what we have here. The president and vice president of the nerd alert club."

Trini helped Billy back to his feet as she coldly stared at the two.

"Leave us alone Skull. You too Bulk."

Both Bulk and Skull were taken aback by the intensity of Trini's glare. Bulk however decided that he needed to save face began walking towards the two.

"What if I don't?"

"Yeah what if he don't?" Skull said while peeking behind Bulk's massive frame.

"Then you get to deal with me." A new voice announced.

Jason had watched the incident play out as he was leaving his science class. He knew full well that either of them could have easily handled Bulk and Skull. What surprised him however was Trini's behavior, this wasn't how she normally acted.

"Stay out of this Scott. This has nothing to do with you."

"If you are messing with my friends, it has everything to do with me."

Bulk and Skull gave each other a quick glance before conducting an about face and marching off.

Jason approached his two friends, his attention focused on Trini.

"Hey, you guys okay?"

She looked down at her feet and mumbled a quiet "yes."

Jason thought about pressing the question but decided otherwise.

"Come on you two, Kim and Zack are waiting for us at the Juice Bar."

She was only half listening to Billy's explanation.

"… So that's how our Zords are able to conduct maintenance on themselves at a molecular level while inside molten hot lava."

Kimberly and Zack had been giving Billy their undivided attention however their expressions clearly stated that they had not understood a word he had said. They looked up expectantly at Trini as if silently pleading for her to translate their friend's entire narrative. Trini rolled her eyes in good humor but it was apparent that she didn't all together enjoy her unspoken role as Billy's official translator. After all she did have less than half of the formal schooling her friends had. English wasn't even her second language, it was her third after having learned Chinese from her adoptive parents.

Jason, having sensed his friends discomfort suddenly asked "So are you saying that the Zords have some type of bio-organic tech stuff and that's what helped repaired them?" Trini was thankful for the shift in everyone's attention. She knew that despite his brutish demeanor, Jason was actually quite studious. He just didn't show it often.

"Affirmative!" Billy suddenly shifted his focus to Jason and began another animated explanation. Jason looked at Trini out of the corner of his eyes and gave her a bemused grin. Trini felt herself blushing as she returned his grin.

A familiar chime from the bracelet on their wrists interrupted Billy's speech. The teens quickly abandoned the table they were seated at and made their way into the bar's empty hallway.

Jason looked around before holding his bracelet up. "Go Ahead Zordon."

"Rangers, a swarm of putties are attacking down town Angel Grove, report to the Command Center immediately."


End file.
